One of the UK's leading campaign groups fighting the plastic scourge has welcomed news that the Government is looking to ban plastic cotton buds, stirrers, plastic drinking straws and other single-use plastics from sale from next year - but says the fight is still very much on.

Surfers Against Sewage, which has been at the forefront of the war on plastic pollution in the countryside, rivers and oceans, welcomed the announcement by Prime Minister Theresa May that the British government could seek to ban the plastic items which end up in the environment and pose great danger to wildlife and the food chain we depend on.

A plastic mountain on a beach in Cornwall (Image: Beach Guardian)

The St Agnes-based national environmental charity, which this week showed the extent of the plastic problem to the nation when it delivered a hangar full of litter and plastic collected during this month's national annual beach cleans campaign to the One Show, said anything that helps reduce plastic ending up in the sea in the first place has to be welcomed.

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Hugo Tagholm, chief executive of SAS, said any piece of legislation that helped to reduce unnecessary avoidable single use plastic was good news but the fight did not stop there.

He said the real victory would be when actual legislation was in place and the flow of plastic was reduced at source.

Mr Tagholm said: "We can't pick our way out of this problem through beach cleans alone. For our vision of a plastic-free coastline every piece of legislation and business decision that can eliminate single-use plastic from entering the environment is welcome.

"We need to keep the pressure up so we wean ourselves off our addiction to plastic."

A fallen soldier is one of the millions of pieces of plastic littering Penhale Sands Beach in Cornwall following Storm Eleanor and a run of northerly winds. (Image: Greg Martin)

Mr Tagholm added: "Big businesses are addicted to wrapping anything in plastic, which they say it is to protect and preserve food. But there is an excessive amount of packaging in shops and supermarkets. We are on a journey to decouple society from single-use plastic."

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Some 150 million tonnes of plastic are estimated to be floating around the world’s oceans and more than 100,000 sea mammals die from eating or getting tangled up in plastic waste as a result.

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Plastic microbeads have already been banned and the introduction of the 5p plastic bag charge in England has led to a dramatic fall in their use. According to Defra figures nine billion fewer bags having been distributed.

Michael Gove, the Defra secretary, said: "It is only through government, business and the public working together and the public working together that we will protect our environment for the next generation."

A consultation will start later in 2018, and a ban could be enforced as early as next year.

The measure to ban plastic straws will stop thousands of plastic straws from entering the environment in the first place

Theresa May is expected to encourage the Commonwealth heads of government to join the fight against plastic when she formally opens the meeting today (Thursday, April 19).

She said: "Plastic waste is one of the greatest environmental challenges facing the world, which is why protecting the marine environment is central to our agenda at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

"The UK Government is a world leader on this issue, and the British public have shown passion and energy embracing our plastic bag charge and microbeads ban, and today we have put forward ambitious plans to further reduce plastic waste from straws, stirrers and cotton buds.

"The Commonwealth is a unique organisation, with a huge diversity of wildlife, environments and coastlines.

"Together we can effect real change so that future generations can enjoy a natural environment that is healthier than we currently find it."

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Cotton buds, often flushed down the toilet, are one of the most serious sources of marine pollution. They are small enough to be eaten by birds and marine life.

The Scottish government has already announced a consultation on plans to ban the manufacture and sale of plastic-stemmed cotton buds which campaigners said it would cut the country’s marine plastic pollution by half.

Waitrose is removing all disposable cups from its stores in a bid to cut plastic (Image: Waitrose)

Other work, such as the Treasury’s research into the impact of a levy on disposable coffee cups - known as a 'latte tax' - and a deposit return scheme on plastic bottles as advocated by SAS, is also under way in a bid to wean Britons off their polluting habits.

Mr Tagholm added: "We have to keep on our beach cleans and litter picks as every piece of plastic that's taken off the beach is a victory but to achieve a world with as little plastic pollution as possible we must continue applying pressure on decision makers and businesses."